


All this Time (I Was Waiting for You)

by Kufikiria



Category: NCIS
Genre: (Near) Future, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Romance, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22318801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kufikiria/pseuds/Kufikiria
Summary: During Tony and Ziva’s wedding, Nick gets another push that forces him to finally muster the courage to do something about his feelings for Ellie.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres, Ziva David/Anthony DiNozzo
Comments: 10
Kudos: 120





	All this Time (I Was Waiting for You)

**Author's Note:**

> My dream is to have a Tiva wedding and have Nick and Ellie finally admit how they feel at said wedding. So this is 100% self-indulgent :’)
> 
> I managed to finish this story because of @indestinatus’s own [Tiva wedding fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22248499/chapters/53126668), which I totally recommend because it’s AMAZING. Thank you so much for reading through it by the way and your supporting words regarding this story!!!

If a year ago, someone had told Ellie Bishop that sometime in the near future, she would be flying to Paris with the rest of the team, not for a case, but to celebrate her supposedly dead predecessor and her ex-colleague’s wedding, she would have never believed it.

Yet here she is, all dressed up for the occasion and watching the newlyweds share their first dance now that Ducky declared them husband and wife in front of their whole family. Tali is there too, comfortably sandwiched between her two parents. It took her less than a minute after the slow music started to play inside the beautiful venue to sneak out of Senior’s arms and join the now-married couple on the dancefloor.

They didn’t complain, obviously, and invited her in with an amused laugh that sprung into the air.

This scene is a sweet sight to witness (kind of miraculous, too, really) — one that brings a soft smile to Ellie’s face. As the person who took her place after she left NCIS, she never actually _saw_ Ziva and Tony interact before now. She only knew about them through the woman’s diaries or what her colleagues were willing to share with her; which wasn’t much.

(Although to be fair, even the couple’s oldest friends never experienced such a side of them either — this side of two people so openly and blissfully in love with each other.)

But Ellie’s glad Tony and Ziva are finally getting their happy ending and that she’s here to celebrate it with them. They both deserve it, after everything they’ve been through and all the people and obstacles that came their way during all these years. Maybe even more importantly, she couldn’t be happier for Tali. The little girl deserves to grow up with both her parents around.

Two parents who love and cherish her just as much as they do each other, as the scene of the three of them lazily swirling around the room perfectly demonstrates.

The sight of them is so beautiful even, that it takes a few more seconds after another slow tune starts to play for other couples to take it as their cue to join in them on the dancefloor.

Ellie isn’t one of them. She rather stays where she is, sitting in her corner of the room. She smiles and waves at her friends while they slowly stand up and invite their significant others to go and, soon enough, she finds herself alone at her designated table, watching them from afar. As she looks at all these lovely pairs, she can’t help but let her gaze linger around the room in search of _someone_ in particular — but, for some reason, she can’t seem to find him among all of these people.

At least, part of her thinks with some kind of relief, he doesn’t seem to have found anyone to share this romantic moment with. She quickly dismisses the thought, though.

Nick’s whereabouts shouldn’t matter to her. Yes, they came to this wedding together, but they did so as _friends_. Nothing else. They were pretty clear about it when they decided to be each other’s plus-one as the D-Day drew nearer than ever and neither of them had a date to bring with them.

Still, Ellie can’t retain herself from looking for him inside the crowded venue, nor can she force her heartbeat to slow down to normal while she looks at the empty chair beside her and the thought of Nick invades her mind. She’s so lost in her own head, even, that she doesn’t hear right away that steps are coming her way. She startles when his voice raises into the air and he takes back his place.

“Champagne?” Nick hands her one of the two glasses he’s been holding and, just for a second, she remains frozen in place. She looks at him with surprise, then eventually grabs the glass.

“Thank you.” Their knuckles briefly brush in the process. Ellie’s heartbeat quickens in her chest.

_This is a bad idea_ , she tries to remind herself.

They sip their beverage in complete silence for a little while, both of them with their eyes stuck on all the couples still dancing in front of them. Ellie ponders whether she should say something and break that awkward silence between them. Most of all, she can’t help but wonder about what if she were to ask him to go join their friends on the dancefloor — or what if _he_ were to do it.

_Should they…?_

They’re sitting so close together that Ellie can feel it when Nick starts fidgeting next to her. When she sneaks a curious glance in his direction, though, she finds him looking at the main couple of the night, who are still wrapped in each other’s arms and visibly not willing to let go soon. They’re talking — Ellie can see their mouths moving from afar — but she can’t hear what they’re saying over the loud music. What she can’t miss, though, is the huge grins that are covering their faces.

They’re clearly happy. In love. The perfect example that an office romance isn’t always a bad idea — no matter what their boss’ rules say…

(It’s already been established before that some of Gibbs’ rules are BS, after all. So why not Rule #12 as well?)

This thought and sight finally give the courage Ellie needed to talk to Nick. But, right as she opens her mouth, she’s cut short by a third person joining them at the table without so much as a warning first. “Why aren’t you dancing with the others?”

Tali, who apparently left her parents alone, comes and sits next to Ellie. She looks at the pair expectantly while biting on the piece of cake she’s holding in her small hands.

Ellie shares a confused look with Nick, who offers her a nervous smile in return. He doesn’t seem to know what to say more than she does.

“I, uh—… I don’t really like to dance.” He eventually breaks the awkward silence that fell upon them with what Ellie knows is just a poor excuse.

“Why not?” The girl doesn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “It’s so fun!”

“It is.” Ellie decides to finally join in the conversation. “But slow dances… they’re funnier when you share them with someone you love,” she tries to carefully explain. She keeps her gaze stuck on Tali, unable to meet Nick’s eyes as she talks. “Like your mom and dad.” She shoots them another glance, and a soft smile forms on her lips again at the sight they offer — they _do_ seem to be having a lot of fun.

At least, if she’s to judge by the small laughter that escapes Ziva’s mouth at something Tony whispers into her ear.

For a second, Tali turns towards her parents to look at them too before she brings her attention back onto Ellie. “And like you and Nick!” she proudly exclaims.

Ellie almost chokes at the child’s words. To say she’s startled is an understatement.

“What?!” Nick sounds just as much in shock as she is.

“Ima says you’re in love with her,” Tali explains. She doesn’t seem to realize the weight of what she’s saying or to feel the change of atmosphere between the two adults.

With her heart now pounding in her chest, Ellie brings her eyes onto Nick. He’s not looking at her, laughing nervously.

She can’t help but wonder where the girl picked that up. Why Ziva would say that.

“Your mother said that, uh?” His voice brings Ellie back to the reality of the moment, echoing her thoughts.

Tali nods. “Yes. I heard her and Daddy talk. She also said you were being a wuss.” This actually makes Ellie laugh a little, while the girl pauses and frowns. “What’s a wuss?” she then asks.

“Something I’m not,” Nick mumbles. He sounds vexed.

(He looks adorable like that, Ellie can’t help but think while she looks at him.)

“It’s a word you shouldn’t be repeating.” She gently strokes the girl’s curly hair — it’s crazy how much she looks like her mother. “But it’s like… being a coward.”

Her heartbeat does nothing to calm down as she talks. Her mind is racing too, thinking about Tali’s words — or Ziva’s? — and whether or not they’re true.

Whether or not Nick _does_ love her indeed. Or at least has feelings for her.

(She knows _she_ does. Has had for a while now, if she’s being honest with herself.)

Ellie doesn’t have the time to think about it more, or Tali can’t say anything else because all of a sudden, Tony appears in front of them with a huge beam lighting up his features.

“Tali, sweetheart, come dance with me?” he asks with his arms wide open as an invitation.

The girl doesn’t need more convincing; she quickly jumps off her chair to run inside her father’s embrace, leaving the other two behind, unaware of the bomb she just dropped on them.

Ellie exchanges a smile with Tony as he steps away hand-in-hand with Tali. She keeps watching them for a few seconds; watches how she climbs on her father’s feet and curls her arms around his waist so that he can make her twirl around the dancefloor like the grown-ups. Ziva is standing not so far away and watching her family with sparkling eyes and a loving smile.

Ellie can’t tell for sure, but it seems like a tear rolls down the woman’s cheek as well.

It’s that sight that makes Ellie eventually bring her own gaze back onto Nick. He looks very nervous when their eyes meet.

“Kids and their imagination,” he trails off with an awkward laugh as he breaks the silence between them. “I don’t know where she picked that up.”

“You don’t, huh?” Ellie raises a skeptical eyebrow at him. Objectively, everything in his behavior and body language tells the opposite of what he’s saying — he _does_ know why she said that.

Still, Ellie needs to hear it from _him_.

In front of her, Nick’s expression changes suddenly as he takes a deep breath and looks right into her eyes. The gravity and seriousness with which he stares deep into her soul make her heart skip a beat while she waits for him to say something. _Anything._ “Okay, okay. She’s right. And Ziva is too. I’m being a wuss.”

Ellie watches as he stands up to stand before her. He never leaves her gaze when he stretches a hand towards her with a knowing, yet somehow shy — something very unlike Nick, to be honest — beam. “Do you, uh… want to dance? I’ve heard it’s fun when you share it with someone you care about.” His smile turns more confident while an understanding passes between them.

She doesn’t hesitate to grab his hand.

Ellie stares at their intertwined fingers for a few seconds before she answers him. _They fit perfectly together._

She shoots him a grin, then finally lets out a single word. “Yes.”

She lets him lead her towards the dancefloor and take a place in the middle of the other couples as her arms securely wrap around his shoulders and his find their place on her waist.

It feels good, she can’t help but think while they start moving slowly. It feels _right_.

Like it’s about time they finally came together.

(Watching them from afar, Tony and Ziva exchange a knowing look. He holds her close to him as he kisses her temple.

“Can you imagine where we’d be now if we, too, found the courage to tell each other how we feel years ago?”

“It doesn’t matter. We are here now, right? We still made it.” She intertwines their fingers together. Their matching rings, promise of forever, shine bright against the blinding lights of the venue.

They take a moment to look at them and sink into the reality of their newly _married_ life before bringing their gazes onto each other again.

“We did.” Tony grins before pressing a soft kiss on Ziva’s lips. His eyes stare right into hers when he talks again. “Thank you for coming back home to us,” he whispers as he casts a quick glance towards their daughter, who left him in the middle of their dance to go play with the other NCIS kids. What a long way the whole team went…

Ziva follows his gaze, holds him closer. “Thank you for waiting for me.”

“Always.”)


End file.
